HARTLEY Wintney badminton star Viki Williams insists she is already planning next year’s title defence after steering Loughborough University’s women’s badminton team to an excellent Championship final success.
In front of a raucous home crowd, captain Williams, a second year psychology student, led from the front as Loughborough avoided losing a single match to blitz the University of Leeds team 8-0.
That meant they retained their title from 12 months earlier and 19-year-old Williams believes that the previous year’s experience stood her side in good stead this time around.
“We’re so, so happy – we won it last year so felt a bit of pressure to do the same again this year,” explained Williams, who has featured for Hampshire senior county side.
“We’re a lot calmer this year than we were at this time last year.
“Last year we stressed around and didn’t really know what to do.
“The support has helped so much.
“Last time we were away at Surrey and lacking support, but this year all of the squad and our friends have come to support us.
“We’ll aim to win again next year, even if we lose a few players but we’re gaining a few too.”
Loughborough won the league on goal difference to put them in a really good position heading into the finals.
They followed up that triumph by winning both their quarter and semi-finals 7-1 against University College London and Nottingham University respectively, before claiming the top prize by thrashing the University of Leeds.
Williams was honoured to captain such a successful side but also praised the support of both the coaches and the men’s team, who have helped along the way.
Williams added: “To be captain is such an honour. It just feels so good to help the team reach the achievement.”
British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for Higher Education sport in the UK, representing 170 institutions and facilitating 52 sport programmes.
BUCS has been shortlisted for Governing Body of the Year at the BT Sports Industry Awards 2015 and is supported by Deloitte bucs.org.uk.
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